NYC Schools Get Sex Ed; N.Y. Post Cover Sexist

(WOMENSENEWS)-

Cheers

For the first time in nearly two decades, students in New York City's public middle and high schools will be required to take sex-education classes beginning this school year, reported The New York Times Aug. 9. The curriculum will include lessons on how to use a condom and the appropriate age for sexual activity. The new mandate is part of a broader strategy the Bloomberg administration announced last week to improve the lives of black and Latino teenagers.

More News to Cheer This Week:

Sheila Coley was formally introduced on Aug. 8 as chief of police for Newark, N.J., reported The Maddow Blog Aug. 9. She will be the first African American woman to hold the position in the 175 year history of the Newark Police Force.

Sensei Keiko Fukuda, 98, of San Francisco was awarded a 10th-degree black belt, judo's highest level, reported ABC News Aug. 11. The honor has been granted to only a handful of men worldwide and never before to a woman.

Jeers

The New York Post stirred controversy after publishing its Aug. 10 cover. For a story on the unpredictable cycle of the stock market, the newspaper featured a woman portrayed as a hooker with the headline "Crazy stox like a hooker's drawers... UP, DOWN, UP."

More News to Jeer This Week:

Citing the Defense of Marriage Act, the Obama administration denied immigration benefits to Bradford Wells, a U.S. citizen, and Anthony John Makk, a citizen of Australia, a married same-sex couple from San Francisco, and ordered the expulsion of a man who is the primary caregiver to his AIDS-afflicted spouse, reported SFgate Aug. 9.

The Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, a Naperville, Ill.-based anti-gay group, has started a new campaign to uphold the federal ban against gay blood donors, reported The Huffington Post Aug. 11.

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois has been notified of his dismissal by his religious order, the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, because of his public support of female priests, reported The New York Times Aug. 8.

Republicans are working to reinstate the so-called Global Gag Rule, which would block international aid to organizations that provide abortion-related information and services in other countries, reported The Huffington Post Aug. 7.

Central Health board members voted unanimously on Aug. 11 to stop spending public money on abortions for low-income women in Texas' Travis County after Sept. 12, reported the Austin American-Statesman.

Noted:

On Aug. 10 federal judge James Beaty Jr. said he is weighing whether to invalidate part of the state budget that cuts off North Carolina's two Planned Parenthood affiliates from federal or state family planning funds, reported The Associated Press.

Former New York City police officer Kenneth Moreno, who was acquitted in May of raping an East Village woman, was handed the maximum sentence of one year in jail Aug. 8, reported WNYC. Franklin Mata, the second police officer in the case, accused of acting as a lookout, was sentenced on Aug. 10 to 60 days in jail, reported The New York Post.

Income and related measures are better predictors of who will get infected with HIV than whether a person exchanges sex for money, according to a new federal study of heterosexuals in 24 cities, reported The Philadelphia Inquirer Aug. 12.

Newsweek's latest cover, featuring Republican candidate Michelle Bachmann, stirred controversy. It features Bachmann standing against a stark blue background, looking directly into the camera with a wide-eyed expression, and the headline reads "THE QUEEN OF RAGE," reported The Huffington Post Aug. 8.